1781-83, ii. p. 225), G.W. Steller's _Tagebuch seiner Seereise aus
dem Petripauls Hafen. . . und seiner Begebenheiten auf der
Rueckreise_ (Pallas' _Neueste Nordische Beytraege_, St. Petersburg and
Leipzig, 1793-96, i. p. 130; ii. p. 1). ]

[Footnote 359: According to Mueller, whose statements (based on
communications by Waxel?) often differ from those of Steller. The
latter says that the flesh of the sea-otter is better than that of
the seal, and a good antidote to scurvy. The flesh of the young
sea-otter might even compete with lamb as a delicacy. ]

[Footnote 360: To judge by what is stated in Steller's description
of Behring Island (_Neue nord. Beytr._, ii, p. 290) no one would
have dared to attack "diese grimmigen Thiere," and the only sea-lion
eaten during the winter was an animal wounded at Kamchatka and
thrown up dead on the coast of Behring Island. The fin-like feet
were the most delicate part of the sea-lion. ]

[Footnote 361: According to Mueller's official report, probably
written for the purpose of refuting the rumours regarding Steller's
fate current in the scientific circles of Europe. According to the
biography prefixed to Georg Wilhelm Steller's _Beschreibung von dem
Lande Kamtschatka, herausgegeben von J.B.S._ (Scheerer), Frankfurt
and Leipzig, 1774, Steller had in 1745 begun his return to St.
Petersburg, and was already beyond Novgorod, when he received orders
to appear before the court at Irkutsk. After a year he obtained
permission to travel to St. Petersburg, but when he came to the
neighbourhood of Moscow, he received a new order to return, and for
farther security he was placed under a guard. They had travelled a
good way into Siberia, when he froze to death while the guard went
into a public-house to warm themselves and quench their thirst. ]

[Footnote 362: As early as Schelechov's wintering at 1783-84 the
foxes on Behring Island were principally white. During Steller's
wintering, over a third of the foxes on the island had a bluish fur
(_Neue nord. Beytr._, ii, p. 277). In the year 1747-48 a fur hunter,
Cholodilov, caught on Behring Island 1,481 blue foxes and 350
sea-otters, and the following year another hunter returned with over
a thousand sea otters and two thousand blue foxes, which probably
were also caught on Behring and Copper Islands (_Neue Nachrichten
von denen neuentdeckten Insuln_, Hamburg u Leipzig, 1766, p. 20). In
the year 1751-53 Jugov caught on the same island 790 sea-otte